This invention relates to a method for coding the input of Chinese characters from a keyboard in accordance with the first phonetic symbols and tones thereof.
Computers have been developed to deal with Chinese information. The improvement of this invention is directed to Chinese information processing computers in which Chinese characters are coded in accordance with their entire pronunciation. The pronunciation of a Chinese character consists of a phonetic spelling and a tone. For example, when Chinese character " " is to be output from a conventional computer, four keystrokes are needed in accordance with its pronunciation " ." This kind of computer deals with Chinese information very slowly unless the user is skilled in the phonetic spelling of Chinese characters according to the Chinese National Phonetic Alphabet. Furthermore, conventional computers can deal only with the input of a single Chinese character and not a single Chinese phrase.